Amata Welcomes Assistant Secretary Cantor and OIA Coral Reef Grant

Pago Pago – Congresswoman Uifa’atali Amata is welcoming Assistant Secretary of the Interior Carmen Cantor, who landed Thursday on her visit to American Samoa on the same flight as Congresswoman Amata.

On Wednesday, Assistant Secretary Cantor announced in a letter distributed to Governor Lemanu P.S. Mauga and Congresswoman Aumua Amata that the Office of Insular Affairs (OIA), of the Department of the Interior (DOI), has awarded nearly $300,000 ($298,570) to American Samoa Department of Marine and Wildlife Resources, a grant for which the Department submitted the application on April 13 of this year.

“I appreciate so much that Assistant Secretary Cantor made the long trip to see our beautiful island for herself, and I know this visit with ASG officials will give her helpful insight as she works with our territory in the future,” said Aumua Amata. “Thank you to Director Taotasi Archie Soliai and everyone at the Department who has a part in applying for or implementing this grant.”

These funds through OIA’s Coral Reef and Natural Resources Program are for American Samoa’s Marine Invasive Species Detection Program.

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